Founder of Suggestion Ox (CEO) and TeamSnap. Author. Improviser. Rogue life coach.
ideas & advice
You've found your dream role. The only problem: they ask for a bunch of experience you don't have. Apply anyway. Most job requirements are fake When companies put together job descriptions they throw in every requirement under the sun. Most of these requirements are nice-to-haves, not
travel
There is a hierarchy of people you would like to sit next to on a six-hour airplane flight, ranging from good to terrible. At the positive end of the spectrum – the Platonic ideal of an in-air companion – you might find a mute narcoleptic dwarf. No interactions, no space issues, no
travel
Throughout its history, Colombia has been a remarkably stable, successful and peaceful country, except for a brief period of turmoil between 1499 and 1995. I learned this – and many other facts about Colombian history, customs, culture and food – during a four hour walking tour of downtown Medellín from Real City
travel
It turns out that Colombia is more dangerous than I thought. A man tried to kill me on Saturday. That man was Daniel, the guide for my Medellín bike tour. When I signed up for a half-day Medellín bike tour I assumed it would be a nice relaxed pedal on
travel
I think Colombia has a counterfeit money problem. The reason I think this is because every time I buy bananas down at the local grocery store the employees examine each bill as though I were a high-profile international criminal involved in ransoming hostages. Every cash register has two employees. When
travel
When you tell people you’re about to spend two weeks in Medellin, Colombia, their first reaction is to tell you that you’re going to get murdered. But when you explain that Pablo Escobar has been dead since 1993 and Colombia has rebounded from the drug cartel days to
travel
This is how you know I’m a first-time cruiser: I brought snacks onto the boat. In the universe of worst-case scenarios I might have imagined — capsizing in a hurricane, Honduran pirates, forced Macarena — I jumped right to “Might be a bit peckish” as the most likely emergency to plan
travel
Flames from the burning electrical transformer licked at the powerlines behind the house. Acrid, oily smoke blew toward the sliding glass door on the deck, where I’d been watching branches blow free from the trees during this winter wind storm, spiraling down and then sparking as they hit the
travel
Here’s a tip for the savvy traveler: When guidebooks use phrases like “gritty charm” and “a few surprises under the rough and tumble exterior” to describe a destination, it might be a place you want to avoid. (Note: You should also avoid blind dates with those same descriptions.) Despite
travel
Part of the joy of travel is meeting new people from around the world, learning about their interests and their backgrounds, and then figuring out how to ditch them during a hike so you don’t have to tell them to shut up to their face. But I’m getting
travel
So it turns out that every tourist in Costa Rica is from Canada. In the last few days we’ve met people from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. I just need Quebec and Yukon Territories to win Canadian bingo. It’s like all of Canada collectively says “Screw this!
travel
So there are definitely competing interests at work here. On the one hand you have the sloth, a creature whose entire evolutionary path has been predicated on remaining inert and tree-colored so as to remain invisible to predators. And on the other hand you have Hadas, whose entire vacation is